What is EDM, exactly?

Sometimes, I find myself asking what EDM is to people these days. To the many listeners who have accepted electronic dance music’s gradual sifting into the mainstream scene, they might just consider it to be, well, simply, “music made entirely on the computer.”

I hear that, and the phrase immediately sickens me.

Dance music is more than just “music made on the computer.” It’s true, maybe all deadmau5 does is sit on his computer all day, messing around with synth and bloops and bleeps to make a song, and maybe all Avicii does is find an old catchy tune, editing it to make it updated and brand new. But I can tell you, there is a fire in EDM artists’ hearts that inspires them to do this because it is their passion. Their calling.

And when they get up on stage in front of all of the cheering fans and put their headphones on, they drift into the feeling of that music like no other genre’s artists ever can. You can see it in their eyes, in their smiles, and even in their movement. There’s not a word to describe the feeling that a dance rave gives off to the audience and the artist… it’s just true bliss. Something that some pop song about partying could never do.

Dance music artists know that the type of music they make everyday is inspirational, and just gives off this feeling of bliss. And nothing can ever imitate it. That’s what EDM is.